Marshall County grants special use permit for medical marijuana facility near Varna

Thursday

Aug 28, 2014 at 9:25 AMAug 28, 2014 at 10:44 AM

Gary L. Smith of the Journal Star

LACON — The Marshall County Board gave zoning approval Wednesday night to an investors’ group seeking to develop a medical marijuana production and processing facility at a rural Varna site shortly after a separate group had withdrawn its application for a different location.

The board voted 9-2 to grant the special use permit sought by LaGrange-based Illinois Agriculture Investments LLC as part of a bid to acquire the one state license to be allowed for such a facility in a five-county area around Peoria.

The group hopes that permit will improve their chances of getting a state license to grow marijuana, extract oils, and make food and other products in an initially 47,000-square-foot building to be constructed on a 10-acre parcel of land along County Road 1900 E., just north of Illinois Route 17 and about two miles west of Varna.

The board’s action followed a unanimous recommendation for approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals at a public hearing on Tuesday. The plan had opponents that night, but not as many as the separate project proposed at a site south of Lacon.

“It was a lot of hard work,” company attorney Neal McQueeney of LaGrange said Wednesday. “We respect the process, we respect the community’s concerns, and we look forward to working with the community and the state of Illinois.”

A permit application submitted by Putnam County investors working with a Chicago-based agency was withdrawn Wednesday. It had drawn a 3-2 ZBA vote on a motion to deny a permit, though there was lingering confusion over whether the narrow vote was actually in opposition.

“After last night’s meeting I am sorry to say we have decided to withdraw our application from your district,” group leader William J. Mennie, president of Mennie Machine Co. in Mark, said in an e-mail to county zoning administrator Patrick Sloan.

Confusion over the vote had arisen after acting ZBA Chairman Ken McKee broke a 2-2 tie on the motion to deny a permit by saying, “I vote to deny.” Project opponents burst into applause, but McKee said later that he actually had “voted to deny the motion to deny.”

After that application was withdrawn, the board meeting focused on the rural Varna project. The board made the permit conditional on environmental assessments and any required remediation, but the idea of a condition relating to possible future legalization of recreational marijuana was abandoned after discussion.

“I think we’re getting away from the topic here when we start talking about recreational stuff,” said board member Andy Stash. “We need to vote on what we have here.”

Besides some Chicago-area residents, the group also includes property owner Robert Meils and Jimmy Scherer, president and co-owner of Scherer Mazda in Peoria. Scherer said he would not have an active role in the business, but wanted to be involved because of family health issues that could benefit from medical cannabis.

“It was a hard decision to make” because of possible ramifications in a retail business, he said after the meeting. “But I talked with my family and decided to do it.”

If the project eventually goes forward with state approval, it would initially mean 35 to 50 jobs, ranging from $18 an hour to $125,000 a year, McQueeney said. Board members have often stressed economic benefits in their support, but the factor cited by Scherer is also important, board member Brad Lindstrom indicated.

“When you talk to people who have been using it as a medicine, you see what a benefit it can be,” he said.

The plan will compete for state approval with at least two projects in Tazewell County and possibly one in Peoria, as well as another Marshall proposal up for hearing next month. The state is expected to start accepting applications Sept. 8.

Gary L. Smith can be reached at (800) 516-0389 or glsmith@mtco.com. Read his Northern Circuit blog at pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Glsmithx.

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